


Jasico Ficlets and Drabbles

by Nathamuel



Series: Multifandom Ficlets and Drabbles [6]
Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-01
Updated: 2014-11-11
Packaged: 2018-02-23 12:18:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2547215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nathamuel/pseuds/Nathamuel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>1. Madness<br/>2. Copy Shop<br/>3. College<br/>4. Charity kissing booth</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Madness

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt by fantasizingmyfantasies on tumblr. :) Prompt was: Madness by MUSE

Jason awoke with a start, heart racing in his chest. For a moment he laid in his bed, hand clutching the front of his shirt as if that would calm down his heart, before he rolled to his feet and grabbed his glasses. Times like these he was glad to have the cabin for himself, because no one saw or cared when he crept out and across the camp, dodging patrolling satyrs and the like until he reached the Hades cabin.

He entered the dark interior.

"Who’s there?" a sleepy voice called out.

Jason froze. What was he even doing here, he asked himself, sneaking into his now possible ex-boyfriends bedroom like, like a creep. His shoulders slumped.

"It’s me," he called back and stepped forward. A lamp flickered to life; blinding him momentarily and making him blink rapidly against the bright spots.

"Jason?" Nico sounded puzzled. "What are you doing here?" He rubbed at his eyes, red-rimmed as if he’d been lying awake for hours or maybe as if he’d cried. Jason didn’t want to think of Nico crying.

Every step across the floor made the boards creak softly in the dark and Nico only watched him come closer, face pinched and nothing welcoming in his posture. Jason sat down beside his bed and rested his back against the side. The wood dug into his back, but he didn’t care for the discomfort. He bit his lip. There was nothing he wanted more in this moment than to pull Nico into his arm. Considering the fight they’d had, he probably wasn’t welcome to do so. He hung his head.

Nico’s voice was tight. “Jason?”

"It’s stupid," Jason said, he felt stupid. He should have waited for dawn to have this conversation, but, "I had a dream, a nightmare."

"About me?" In Jason’s imagination he saw Nico tilt his head curiously, he always did that when he was trying to figure someone out. He loved that gesture.

"Yeah." The word was barely breathed into the night, even though it was nothing that Jason was ashamed of.

Nico’s warmth moved closer, until his thigh was close to the back of Jason’s head. “Did I do something bad?” he asked. Jason couldn’t read his tone, if he was angry or if he didn’t care at all.

"No! No, you were in Tartarus." Even now the mention of the name agitated Nico. Jason could feel him tremble behind him. With one arm he reached over his shoulder, catching Nico’s hand in his. Nico squeezed his fingers.

"Did that make you sad?" Nico said it as if he thought that the answer would be ‘no’.

"What do you think? Of course it did. I don’t want to lose you." The words came out sharper than Jason intended. Almost immediately he felt guilty, slumping again.

There was a moment’s silence before Nico’s fingers carded through the fine hairs at Jason’s nape. “I don’t want to lose you either.”

"Do you want to break up?" Jason asked and only after he had spoken he realized that the question had been on his mind the last couple of days, ever since they had walked away from each other in anger.

"I don’t know. We do fight a lot lately." Nico’s voice trembled and his fingers stilled. Jason missed the caress already; it had kept the anxiety away. Now he was starting to shiver.

He mumbled an agreement and stared unseeing at the other side of the cabin.

When nothing more was forthcoming, Nico tugged at his hair and Jason let his head fall back against the mattress without resistance, looking up at his boyfriend. “Is that all you have to say to that?” Nico gritted out, eyes flashing only inches from his face.

Jason shrugged, frowning. “What do you want me to say?” He swallowed. He let his hands fall into his lap and balled them into fists. “In retrospect the fights are stupid. It’s madness! And I don’t want to lose you over something stupid,” he said and continued, voice shaking along with his hands, “but I won’t keep you trapped in a unhappy relationship.”

For a while, Nico simply looked at him and Jason let him. His eyes stung and he closed them. The soft kiss to his lips startled him, but Nico pulled back too fast for him to return it. Nico looked mad and resigned and happy all at the same time. It was a strange mixture that, strangely enough, eased something in Jason’s chest that had been hurting.

"You’re really stubborn. And I don’t want to lose you either," Nico said, his voice, soft and low, at odds with the look on his face.

A smile spread over Jason’s face, small but undeniable there. “Right back at you.” He closed his eyes again and let Nico slip the glasses off his face. Nico pulled at his arm, urging him to stand. “Get up here. I love you, you doofus.” he hissed, a smile reflecting back at Jason.

The bed dipped under his weight when Jason laid down.

"I love you, too." Jason whispered into the space between them, before leaning forward to bridge the distance.


	2. Copy Shop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the Prompt "you’re the only other person in the room when I break the printer and I’m panicking" by hephaestushandgrenades on tumblr. Thanks for the prompt! :)

"Fucking shit!" 

There had been fizzling and now there was a thin plume of smoke rising from the printer. The only still functioning printer in the whole of the copy shop. It was not Jason's most lucky day, because it was also the only copy shop around for a few blocks (and the only one still open at 10pm).

Jason despaired.

"Noooo! Come on you stupid fucking piece of shit!" Normally, he wasn't one for excessive swearing, but who the fuck cared when he had to hand in his master thesis, printed out and bound, until midnight. The deadlines of his college were illogical. 

He slapped the machine which furtively spit out some crinkled sheets of paper, smeared with ink and completely unreadable. 

"What happened?" a voice asked from behind him, making Jason turn on the spot, feeling embarrassed in the face of the ridiculously attractive copy shop assistant with his feathery black hair. 'Call me Nico' said his nametag. 

"The printer died." he whined (something else he wasn't prone to do but this was a special occasion). "And I need to hand in my thesis in three hours." 

"Let me see." Nico pushed past him, gave the printer an experimental slap and declared it officially broken. 

Jason swore. "But what am I supposed to do? I can't hand my paper in later." Stress made Jason's eyes burn. He should have started earlier.

There was something like pity on Nico's face. Jason could really use a hug right now; instead he crossed his arms over his chest and let his shoulders hang.

"Sorry." Nico shrugged, hunching in on himself. "It's a really bad time for any technical stuff. That was our last working printer. I could bind your paper... don't you have a friend with a working printer maybe?"

Jason slumped into the chair beside the print station. "No. All my friends are either too broke to own one, at a party, on vacation" he ticked off the points on his fingers. "or are already asleep and I don't want to wake them." he put his head in his hands, because that was it. He was going to fail college. 

Nico's feet shuffled in his line of vision and when he looked up at him he was biting his lips, looking conflicted.

"Look." he began and stopped. He cleared his throat. "Look," he tried again. "I live only a couple of minutes away and my printer is working."

Jason lifted his head. Hope made an effort to return to him.

Nico shoved his hands into his pockets and lifted his shoulders. "You could use my printer and afterwards we'll get back here and I'll bind it for you." The look on his face wasn't promising. He looked like he was already regretting the offer.

"You don't have to do that." Jason said, even to his own ears the defeat rang loud and clear in his voice and he winced. On one hand it would be a way to hand in everything on time, on the other Nico looked uncomfortable and Jason didn't like that.

Nico shook his head, forcing a smile. "I wouldn't offer it if I weren't going to go through with it. Come on now. I don't want you to start crying on me." Briskly, he walked to the door and waited while Jason got his USB-Stick and followed him out of the shop, dumbfounded. Nico turned off the light and locked the door and they silently made their way to the apartment block on the other side of the street where Nico produced a set of key and opened the door.

They went up the stairs. 

Jason was a little scared to break the determined silence around Nico, but his good manners won out. "Thank you so much for your help." Jason said earnestly.  Nico still didn't look convinced that he was doing the right thing.

"It's not a problem." except that it was. Jason could empathize that letting a complete stranger into your flat at night probably could be considered a huge risk.

Jason kept his mouth shut until they reached the flat.

"You have a nice flat." he said, standing in the middle of what seemed to be the living room in only his socks and hoped that it didn't come across as too forward or awkward. 

"Thanks." Nico said with a small smile and gestured for him to sit while he powered up his computer. Jason sat. And it was a really nice flat, lighter than Nico's clothing, all black, would have indicated. The walls were painted in a light color; the window was huge and looking out over the city and the furniture, too, was held in light colors. It looked probably beautiful when the light was shining in through the windows.

Nico's hand waved in front of his face until Jason gave him the USB. He followed him to the computer and hovered behind him, close enough that he could smell Nico. Subtly, he leaned in closer, only stepping back when the printing began and they sat down on the couch. It was awkward.

Nico had smelled really good. He shot him a look out of the corner of his eye.

"So," Jason drummed his fingers on his knees, back straight while Nico sat stiffly beside him. "what do you do when you're not working at the copy shop, if I may ask?" 

"I'm studying histories and linguistics." Nico replied. "You're an engineer, right? I read the title of your work."

"Yeah." Jason smiled at Nico and Nico returned the gesture. The expression looked good on his face, if a little timid. Jason felt his belly flutter and his face heat. Damn it. Nico looked away and crossed his arms over his chest, then he jumped to his feet. His face was a little rosy, but maybe that was only a trick of the light.

"You want something to drink?" he asked and on Jason's agreement he bustled off to the kitchen.

Jason moved to anxiously hover beside the printer.

"Stop that. You'll scare the printer into breaking." Nico teased when he returned and handed him a mug of cocoa which Jason gratefully took. Jason laughed. "Yeah, wouldn't want that to happen." With the mugs in their hands the atmosphere relaxed slightly. Nothing bad could possibly happen with cocoa involved.

"Thank you again for letting me use your printer. I should have just done everything earlier." Jason said, smiling at Nico. They stood close enough together for Jason to see the lighter flecks of brown in Nico's eyes. Nico seemed to realize this as well as he took a step away, only a couple of inches. His grin was shy but genuine.

"It's not a big deal." he said. "Though I can't say that it's the norm for me to let strangers into my flat."

Jason chuckled. "I wouldn't have let any strangers into my flat either. You're really brave for doing so."

Nico ducked his head, but not fast enough to hide the pleased expression on his face. The silence afterwards was comfortable, both of them sipping their drinks until the printer beeped and they collected the paper and hurried back to the shop where Jason watched Nico bind the stack into a slim book and handed it to him. There was still a little time before his deadline ended for sure. Now or never.

"Hey can I ask you something?" Jason asked, putting the book into his bag. His heart skipped uncomfortably. Nico was closing the shop for the night and only gave a non-committed grunt.

Jason took a steadying breath. "Would it be too forward of me to ask you out?" 

There was a little bang when Nico abruptly straightened and bumped his head. The expression on his face, while he rubbed the sore spot, reminded Jason of a startled deer. Jason grinned awkwardly.

"Uhm," Nico said and fell silent, then a slow smile spread across his face. "No, not at all."

 


	3. Campus cafeteria

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt was "hey the semester’s almost over and I have way too much money on my cafeteria account, do you want anything??? this shit’s just gonna disappear into the college’s pocket otherwise " from hephaestushandgrenades over on tumblr. :)

"Hey, you want anything?"

Nico looked up from where he'd been scanning the food offerings of the campus cafeteria, trying to find something that looked delicious enough to be worth his (lack of) money. When he heard the words, he looked around and caught the eye of the guy standing beside him and who, evidently, had addressed him. Nico glanced around again just to be sure and the guy smiled.

They were almost exactly the same height and other than that complete opposites; blond hair, glasses hiding blue eyes and a faded scar over a smiling mouth in contrast to Nico's own black hair, brown eyes and permanent frown. The guy looked nice, but that didn't seem like much of a reason to simply talk to someone, least of all Nico. _Did he just really ask if he could buy me something_? Nico thought. He wasn't sure how he should feel about that.

Out loud Nico did the only sensible thing he could think of. He said, "What?"

The guy's smile wavered and he offered his hand. "Sorry, I'm Jason and I've got way too much money on my cafeteria account."

His grip was warm and firm and Nico couldn't help but like him. "Hello Jason with too much money on his cafeteria account. I'm Nico," he said.

Jason laughed and they moved a little farther down the line when a girl complained behind them about how she couldn't reach the salads. 

"Sorry, I was too forward, but the shit's just gonna disapper into the college's pocket otherwise and since it's the last day of the semester…" he trailed off and shrugged, momentarily looking embarrassed. The friendly expression did not fade, though, Nico noted.

Nico put a piece of cake onto his plate, beside the meal he'd chosen. He tilted his head in consideration. "Alright. So how much is there on your account?"

"I could probably pay for your whole dinner if you'll let me." Jason said, setting a glass of orange juice onto his own tray.

"Or you could pay for my dinner instead, Grace!" a dark haired guy suddenly yelled beside them only to be pulled away by his ear by a blond girl, presumely his girlfriend. Jason, surname Grace, laughed, face coloring, and Nico couldn't help but join in while they could dimly hear the other guy complaining and the girl chew him out. Nico didn't even care to know what that had been about. Though if he remembered correctly that had been Annabeth who was studying histories like him, but in a more advanced semester. She was going to lead one of his projects.

Nico waved his hand in a 'go ahead'-gesture. "Alright, it might make up for the awful course I have in half an hour."

"Deal." Jason said and after he'd paid it seemed only natural to sit down together at one of the tables and talk. Bianca would've probably chewed him out anyway if Nico had told her he'd accepted to let a guy pay for his dinner and then simply walked away to sit alone.

If Nico had to be honest, it felt a little like a date and Jason wholeheartly agreed, weeks later, before leaning in for a kiss that made Nico's toes curl


	4. Charity kissing booth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt was jasico meeting at a charity kissing booth by anon :)

A queue of people stood in front of the charity kissing booth. Jason hung around at the edges, watching the people paying for a kiss and watching his friends…

"I hope you’re not thinking about kissing my sister." 

Jason startled and looked at the dark-haired teen, dressed all in black, who was glowering at him from a few paces away. He was only a few years younger than Jason, but still the hostile look on his face made him swallow. 

"Errr." 

The guy came closer and, unexpectedly, broke into a grin. “Sorry, I just couldn’t resist.” he laughed. The change was breath taking. His whole demeanor changed from one distant to something warm. Jason had seen him before  around the charity kissing booth. Percy had told him who he was. 

"You’re Nico. You’re Hazel’s brother, right?" He said with a smile.

Nico touched the back of his neck. “Yeah, I am. And you’re Jason, friend of Percy.” They shook hands. 

"I am. So, uh, you come here often?" Jason asked, feeling his ears go pink. The guy was really cute. Distantly, he wondered if Hazel would approve of him asking her brother out. 

"Not really. Hazel made me come." Nico replied.

"Huh." Good job, Grace, sound a little more dumb will you, a nasty voice in the back of his head sneered, but Nico didn’t seem to be bothered by his non-committed sound.

"She thinks I’m not getting out enough." Nico scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. Jason liked how the pout looked on his face, although he preferred the smile.  

"And you’re not participating?" Jason pointed to the kissing booth, manned by Piper, Hazel, Leo and Percy with the rest of the gang hanging around the back. 

Nico looked a little flustered. He scratched his neck. “Hazel asked me, but… it’s not really my style.”

"Why not? It’s actually fun, most of the time and you can do something for charity." Jason touched Nico’s shoulder. Nico looked at him in surprise and Jason guilty reclaimed his hand. Right, no touching strangers uninvited. 

Nico tilted his head, he was grinning. “So you participated?” 

Jason colored and wondered if he was being made fun of. “Yeah, it’s my turn in a few minutes or so.”

Nico looked thoughtful and they talked for a while before Nico excused himself.

Idly, Jason wondered if it was too much to ask Hazel for Nico’s phone number. When Jason switched places with Piper later, he was surprised to see Nico stand in the queue, face and ears red when he pushed the money over to him. Hazel was giggling beside him, earning herself a glare from her brother. 

Nico’s hands were slightly clammy on his face when he leaned in for the kiss, face fixed with a determined expression. 

When they moved apart again, both their eyes were half-lidded.

"I would have given you one for free, you know?" Jason whispered.

"Only one?" Nico’s voice wavered. 

"More." Jason assured him. Looked like he didn’t have to ask for a phone number after all.


End file.
